Heavy going in Myanmar's transportation

Vehicles pass the intersection in front of the Sule Pagoda in central Yangon, Myanmar, Sept. 24, 2012. Yangon is a town of taxis, small privately owned buses and other improvised vehicles providing alternative to the choking public transport.

Reuters reports — For more than a century, owners of ox-drawn carts, World War Two-era trucks and decrepit buses have descended on a shrine under a banyan tree in Myanmar's biggest city to bless one of the world's oldest vehicle fleets, dominated by wheezing Japanese rust-buckets from the 1980s or older. Today, as the country emerges from 49 years of isolation, the Shwe Nyaung Pin Nat Shrine has new visitors - freshly minted cars.

As Myanmar opens up, the most immediate physical changes are on its streets, as new cars begin plying roads long dominated by rattletrap buses and rusting taxies. Barely changed since the British colonial era in the early 20th century, some of the decades-old buses and trains are starting to be retired. Read the full story.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

A potential customer breastfeeds her baby at a newly imported car dealership in central Yangon, Sept. 23. Saloons with newly imported vehicles recently mushroomed across the country offering everything from Indian micro cars to expensive Rolls Royce models. It is now much easier and cheaper to import cars as the incredibly complicated and expensive procedure has been replaced with something more affordable.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Passengers traveling on a government-owned ferry get ready to disembark at the Dallah township of Yangon, Sept. 18. Dallah Township, a short ferry ride cross the river, is the place where the big city touches the province. Thousands of daily migrants cross the river to Dallah using dangerous long tail boats and cheap government operated ferries.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

A driver rests in a hammock under his truck parked in central Yangon, Sept. 19.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Drivers of different vehicles wait for passengers to arrive by ferry from Yangon to Dallah Township, Sept. 18. Thousands of daily migrants cross the river to Dallah using dangerous long tail boats and cheap government operated ferries. As soon as a ferry unloads passengers, hundreds of rickshaws, motorcycles, pick-up trucks and small busses start their loud performance to get people on-board. They don't leave on schedule and are often overcrowded.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Schoolgirls read a letter as they sit among other passengers travelling on a government-owned ferry to Dallah Township, Sept. 18. Thousands of daily migrants cross the river to Dallah using dangerous long tail boats and cheap government operated ferries.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Passengers wait for a Bayboo bus to leave the station in North Dagon Township, Sept. 18. On line 61, several Bayboo, meaning 'big belly' in Burmese, buses take passengers from North Dagon Township to the city. Possibly the oldest operating bus in the world, "Bayboo" is an improvised local legend that has maneuvered dirty roads for over 70 years. The original vehicle, whose only charm is its spectacular ugliness, was a World War II military Chevrolet C15.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Passengers wait for a bus to leave a station in front of a shopping mall in central Yangon, Sept. 23.